Congratulations, you have been admitted to the Dartmouth College Class of 2011!
So read the first line of the college admittance letter we all received, give or take a few digits. Didn't we think we had all made it into the most exclusive club of all, the Ivy League? Little did we know what was ahead of us the applications, the pledging, the missions and the intensive selection processes required to be accepted into the Dartmouth club of our choice.
But why do we feel the need to so fervently pursue acceptance into these exclusive organizations once we make it beyond the red tape of college acceptance? Rory Grant '11 attributes it to the fact that "everyone at Dartmouth has to be the most excellent." The quintessential Dartmouth student, according to Grant, believes that, "I am the most interesting because I do 4 million organizations and I do them all with a broken finger."
Our Type A personalities necessitate extensive extracurricular participation, and thus it seems our love for organizations stems from this desire to overachieve.
But why does Dartmouth's love for campus organizations dwarf that of any other prestigious university? The number of H-Croo applications point to the quest for facetime, or campus icon-dom, as the primary reason. Is it to meet cool people? Is it to sing and dance? Or is it to have purple hair for Fall term? (I applied with all of these in mind.)
But our desire to be in the club is not enough. To prove our worth to these organizations, we must submit ourselves to grueling selection processes. Being accepted to Dartmouth doesn't cut it you must differentiate yourself from your fellow Dartmouth students in order to hang out with underprivileged children, provide safety on a mountain, schmooze with alumni or convene in a windowless tomb.
We must prove our desire to be part of these organizations through extensive essays, being locked in a basement for 24 hours or doing jazzercise on FFB. If we complete these tasks satisfactorily and we gain access to these exclusive clubs, we continue to demonstrate our devotion by taking on leadership positions, blitzing out at least twice a day to the @mac account, or wearing an article of clothing advertising our participation in said organization.
And what do these organizations amount to? According to Maryam Arain '11, "We at Dartmouth love labeling our peers and ourselves based on our beloved organizations."
The organizations we commit our time to whilst at Dartmouth come to define us. How would you identify me? Unaffiliated, ski patroller, Panarchist, non-Econ major. A girl who loves skiing and wears an orange hat. Arain explains, "Dartmouth kids love making assumptions based on these organizational labels."
Dartmouth loves organizations and we love being selective in our admittance to these organizations. We also love criticizing each other's exclusive organizations, and drawing conclusions about people. But, maybe Grant had it right when she said we love our organizations because "we love the people."
Many of us have submitted applications to join the cool kids' club for some or all of the reasons listed above, but by senior year one simply does not have the time nor the energy to care unless you are truly drawn to the mission or the people involved. Otherwise, forget it I'm staying in my off-campus house and cooking dinner rather than making that cold walk up the hill to your exclusive, members-only meetings.
